Marta Ayala is a Salvadoran-American painter and a woman muralist in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. Her work involves experimenting with colors, themes, etc. She is not tied to a single theme, medium or style. The majority of her work revolves around engaging with the community by collaborating together with other artists and teaching classes. She experiments with various colors and uses easily definable lines in her paintings and murals. Ayala's paintings and murals display a mix of colorful images reminiscent of childhood, earthly materials such as rocks and water with a mix of ancient culture. This is the reason for the word "primitive" to describe her work.

Early life

Marta Ayala's artistic career began when she immigrated from El Salvador to San Francisco in 1968 along with her family. Ayala started producing paintings and drawings as a child. She received inspiration from her uncle

Camilo Minero Camilo Minero (born Camilo Minero Nochez) was born in Zacatecoluca, La Paz, Zacatecoluca, El Salvador on November 11, 1917. He was a painter, muralist, and an engraver. As a painter, he worked with oil painting, prints, Screen printing, serigraphs ...

. He was a muralist and she followed in his footsteps. Her artwork has primitive and childlike characteristics. She is self-taught, evident from the outlines used in her images. She attended schools throughout San Francisco and in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

to further her skills. Ayala received her college education in San Francisco. She attended

San Francisco City college City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a public community college in San Francisco, California. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local role, annually enrolling as many as one in nine San Franci ...

between 1977 and 1978. After a short break, in the years 1980-82, Ayala left San Francisco for Venezuela to study at the Art Institute of Sucre. From 1989 through 1993 she went to the Precita Eyes Mural Center to apprentice with Susan Cervantes (Latina muralist). She returned to San Francisco City college after her apprenticeship.

Career

She teaches various members of the Bay area community about murals, especially children. She works with young children in a "Spanish Through Art" class. Because of the murals she painted all over the city (with contributions from others) she received Best Public Art award in San Francisco. Ayala has contributed to the infamous

Balmy Alley Balmy Alley (formally Balmy Street) is a one-block-long alley that is home to the most concentrated collection of murals in the city of San Francisco. It is located in the south central portion of the Inner Mission District between 24th Street and ...

in the

Mission District The Mission District (Spanish: ''Distrito de la Misión''), commonly known as The Mission (Spanish: ''La Misión''), is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. One of the oldest neighborhoods in San Francisco, the Mission District's name is ...

of San Francisco. Las Mujeres Muralistas paved the way for Ayala and other Latinas in the San Francisco mural movement.

Works

Self portrait

This 18 × 24 inch painting was created with oil on canvas. Ayala painted herself grinning with satisfaction while her dream-like self is depicted in darker colors with a serious demeanor in the background. The style is primitive as there is a clear distinction between herself and the background.

Dreaming

Dreaming was created using

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

. Ayala contributes to a theme that is common to many Latin American artists–dreams. In this piece, a woman is lying down dreaming of a naked angel-looking-man that the woman is drooling over. The third part of the image appears to be a heart inflamed. It is stated that Ayala is trying to depict the sin of lust. The woman seems content, but a mixed emotions flow because of the enflamed heart–portraying shame.

Manjushri (2001)

The Manjushri mural is in Balmy Alley. It shows an enlightened Buddhist creature painted with various colors surrounding the piece. Ayala uses elements from

Tibetan Art The vast majority of surviving Tibetan art created before the mid-20th century is religious, with the main forms being thangka, paintings on cloth, mostly in a technique described as gouache or distemper, Tibetan Buddhist wall paintings, and sma ...

with a mix of Latin American Art.

Waiting for 52 Excelsior (2001)

This public mural was created with paint on a wall. Nature and urbanism are displayed in this mural but without clear distinctions; everything flows together, symbolizing both worlds living together. The mural is located on Excelsior Avenue.

Garfield High Mural (2006)

This mural was painted on a wall at Garfield High School in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

. This work involved the students of the high school as instructed by Ayala. It has childlike characteristics as it was painted by children. The mural displays a small town on a grassy hill filled with butterflies full of color and flowers throughout. It irepresents the transformation of their city or hopes for transformation to a more positive and beautiful one. The cursive words above the mural read, "Latino Power Hope to Transform Our City, Our Future Community, Leadership, Our Friendships, Family."

Silver Avenue Family Health Center (2006)

The Silver Avenue Family Health Center mural is a colorful piece. The mural displays people dancing in different ways in various color schemes. This was a piece of art created with the community.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* Mission District, San Francisco, CA 1995 * Department of Social Services, San Francisco, CA 1995 * June Steingart Gallery, Oakland, CA 1995 * June Steingart Gallery, Oakland, CA 1994 * Department of Social Services, San Francisco, CA 1992 * Mission District, San Francisco, CA 1991

Group exhibitions

* Mission District, San Francisco, CA 1995 * Somar Mural Resource Center, San Francisco, CA 1995 * Department of Social Services, San Francisco, CA 1993 * Precita Mural Arts Center, San Francisco, CA 1992 * La Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco, CA 1992 * Mission District, San Francisco, CA 1991

Collections

* SomArts Gallery * Museum de Arte Hispano Contemporea * Lynn gallery

Honors and reward

* Ayala has received rewards for Best Public Art in the community in years 1998 and 2001.

References

External links

* http://martaayala.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Marta Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American people of Salvadoran descent American women artists American muralists Women muralists 21st-century American women